


Shot Through the Heart

by kingofthesun



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: #shadam i would die for both of them but for now i can’t acknowledge it, Alternate Universe - High School, Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Crossover, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Deadpool!Lance, GUYS shiro is gay and im crying, Gay Keith (Voltron), Jealous Lance (Voltron), Keith and Shiro are Siblings, M/M, Marvel Universe, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Pansexual Lance (Voltron), Pidge and Keith are besties, Police Officer Shiro (Voltron), Spider-Man!Keith, Spiderman!Keith, Spideypool - Freeform, but not in the way you think, gets super gorey, heck idk man, i can't really say it's low key 'cause it's not, i'll probably add more tags as i think off them, im in too deep and can’t change the story im sorry, klance, lance is flash thompson, like he's deadpool he's gotta be pan, lotor has a mini crush, low key death, marvel crossover, spell it how you want or whatever, this is a klance fic but id give my life for the both of them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2018-12-25 13:03:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingofthesun/pseuds/kingofthesun
Summary: What happens when you combine Keith Kogane, a radioactive spider, and a breathtakingly handsome, fourth wall-breaking superhero? You get the best romance of a life time. If you ignore all the blood, gore, and swearing, you could say it's a pretty sweet story. I mean, its got dramatic irony, action shots, and that sexy beast Lance McClain. Who wouldn't want to read this story?





	1. Zero to Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The amazing Deadpool makes his stunning debut! There's also Keith's backstory, but that doesn't matter. Let's worry about the real star here: me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am, back at it again with the fanfics named after song titles. I think I'm going to keep the tradition up by naming the chapters after songs, just so I can add another layer of stress on my life.
> 
> Deadpool is totally going to break the fourth wall throughout this thing, don't worry.
> 
> Also, I don't know if every chapter will be this long, I think I'll try and make it that way. My goal is to write more words than that is in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.
> 
> Anyways, on with the story.

“ _ Hey, Mullet! _ ”

Keith closed his eyes and slammed his head into his locker. Could he have one day without wanting to throw himself into traffic?

The hand that slammed itself beside his head told him his answer. 

“Awfully quiet today, Kogane.” 

Lance McClain was a dick, to say the least. He had to take the time out of his day to make Keith’s life a bit harder. Whether it was knocking books out of his hands, yelling ridiculous nicknames down the hallway, or just showing his stupid face and flashing that stupid grin that made Keith redden with anger. 

That same grin was bearing down on him as two arms trapped him against his locker. 

“Haven’t see you all day, are you avoiding me?”

Keith rolled his eyes, sarcasm dripping like venom from his words, “Oh  _ no _ , I could never. You’re the highlight of my day.”

A growl fell from between Lance’s lips, “That’s rich from someone that looks like they’re from a bad 80’s movie.” he grabbed a fist full of black hair, tugging Keith’s head forwards and letting it slam back onto the locker. “Have you ever heard of this thing called a hair cut?”

Keith scowled and tucked his books under his arm, using his free hand to rub the bump that was forming on the back of his head. “You ever thought about working at a car wash? I heard the one on 12th street needs a new inflatable tube man.”

Lance’s nostrils flared, “It’s not my fault that you’re  _ so fucking short _ !” 

Keith smirked, hitting one of Lance’s sensitive spots: his lankiness. The boy was tall and lean, with long arms and legs. Keith couldn’t help that he could see him flapping around in the wind, advertising free car waxing. 

Before Keith could spat something back, a hand grabbed the back of Lance’s shirt collar, tugging him back.

“Lance…” the name was said with warning from Lance’s best friend, Hunk. Keith had to admit, Hunk was a cool guy. He had 2nd period Chemistry with him, and Hunk usually took the time to play with the hot plate as Keith read. More than once, Hunk had made Keith breakfast when he noticed that Keith seemed particularly cranky that morning. What was a guy like Hunk doing with someone like Lance?

Lance shot one last glare at Keith before taking a few step back, accepting his backpack from Hunk. “Whatever. This isn’t over, Kogane.” He left with Hunk trailing behind him, whispering something that caused Lance’s face to redden. 

“Wow, he’s never physically hurt you before.”

Keith finished putting his books away and threw his bag over his shoulder. “He’s an asshole, it’s what he does.” he slammed his locker shut and faced the person before him.

Pidge Gunderson, formerly known as Katie Holt. When her parents divorce, she ended up with her mom while her brother Matt went with her dad. After listening to her mom’s late night rants about how  _ god awful _ her dad was, she decided to take up her mother’s maiden name. Pidge was an unfortunate nickname that was started in middle school from an incident with a flock of pigeons, a peanut butter and honey sandwich, and a ponytail that liked to get stuck to things. The name sort of just stuck, just like the peanut butter. 

She was also Keith’s best and only friend. 

Pidge readjusted her satchel and pushed up her glasses, “I dunno, dude. He could have gave you a concussion or something. Messed up your brain, made you dumber than you already are.”

He scoffed and ruffled her hair, messing up the double buns she had worked so hard to create. “Come on, let’s get something to eat before I have to head to work.”

* * *

_ Smashing’s _ was probably Keith’s favorite place to eat. The restaurant was a perfect midway point from school, to his job, and his apartment. No matter which direction he went in after leaving the place, in eight blocks Keith would be in one of those three destinations. 

The place wasn’t exactly five star quality. It used to be an old corner drug store before it was bought and turned into the small restaurant. The place was cramped, half of the space taken up by the kitchen in the back. There weren't many tables, but the few that were inside were old and unstable, threatening to fall over any day now. The wallpaper was peeling and the whole place smelled of old cigar smoke, but to Keith, it couldn't be more perfect. 

What really made the place was the owner and chef Coran. He was a pleasant guy that never failed to ask Keith how his day was, no matter how busy the restaurant was that day. There had been many nights that Keith had stayed late at the restaurant because his brother had a late shift and he didn't want to stay home alone, and Coran never failed to pull up a chair and offer Keith one of his famous mugs of hot chocolate as they waited for Shiro to get off work. It was like a second home to him. 

The bell on the door alerted the arrival of customers. Keith inhaled the scent of bread being toasted on the stove top, a warm feeling rising in his chest. He pushed through the small line that had formed in front of the counter and claimed a small table that sat by the window. Pidge dropped her bag on the ground and slid into the chair that faced away from the door. 

“God, I’m starving. If I don’t get something to eat soon, I’m going to literally die.” She draped her arm across her eyes and sighed dramatically, her stomach growling in agreement. 

Keith rolled his eyes and sat in the chair across from her. He pulled out his laptop and placed it on the table, earning the attention of the whining girl across from him. 

“Ooh, did you get an update?”

A few keys were pressed, then the laptop was spun to face her. “Altea inc.’s radiation levels have been stable,” Keith pointed to green cloud the surrounded the center of the radar, “But there seriously is something going on in the west wing.” A concentrated red blur pulsed on the radar map. 

Keith turned his computer to face him, his hand covering his mouth as he thought. “I thought it would have gone away by now, but it seems to be getting stronger. I asked Allura about it, but she just brushed it off and said it was probably just the computers that were stored there. It’s just so weird. What could be producing such large and dangerous amounts of radiation?”

Pidge pursed her lips, “Maybe you should check it out today, just to see if there’s anything that could be a major concern.”

“Yeah…” Keith continued to stare at the radar, watching as the red cloud slowly became darker and darker. His attention was only pulled away from the screen when a basket was set in front of him, the parchment paper crinkling under the hand that held it.

“One turkey club with lettuce, tomato, provolone, and a fried egg, and one roast beef sandwich with crunchy peanut butter, mayonnaise, and extra pickles.” Coran sent a wink in Keith’s direction, “A strange order for a strange boy.”

Pidge scrunched her nose up in disgust, pulling her sandwich towards her, “I can’t believe you actually eat that.”

Keith placed his hand over his heart in defense, “What? It’s good!” he picked up the mess of a sandwich and took a bite, his eyes fluttering close as he savored the flavor. Coran chuckled and placed a hand on Keith’s head.

“How are you doing, my boy?”

Keith wiped his mouth on his sleeve and looked up, watching as Coran twisted his mustache, waiting for an answer. 

“I mean, I got slammed against a locker, but what’s new.” He took another bite.

Coran patted his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You’re a tough lad, you probably handled it. Besides, a few more years and you’ll be across the country studying, eating someone else’s sandwiches.” he wiped away a fake tear. 

Keith rolled his eyes, “I haven’t even applied to the university yet. I probably won’t get in, anyways."

Pidge snorted, her face hidden behind an organic chemistry textbook. Coran pulled on Keith’s nose, earning a small “hey!” from him. 

“Nonsense. You’re a brilliant boy, any school would be lucky to have you.” He pulled out a handful of mints and tossed them on the table, “Alright, I have to get back to work. Here are some mints, we don’t want you heading over to Altea smelling like pickles and peanut butter, do we?”

Keith smiled and shook his head, “Thanks, Coran.”

The older man smiled back, “It’s no problem. And take those with you, I ordered a whole bunch of spearmint mints because you complained that you hated the peppermint ones, and no one is taking them! I’m blaming this on you!”

The pair watched as Coran disappeared back behind the counter, laughing at his last statement. They finished their sandwiches and put their stuff back into their bags, shoving mints in their pockets in the process. 

 

Altea Incorporated was started by Alfor Altea, the head researcher and scientist who discovered the rare form of radiation called quintessence, relatively harmless if exposed to humans, it could be concentrated enough to mutate specific cells. His best friend and business partner Zarkon was the one who talked Alfor into starting the company, hoping to help the world with their discovery. Their main focus was using that radiation to mutate cells to cure chronic diseases by hopeful reverting them back to when they were healthy, or tricking them into destroying other diseased cells. 

Alfor’s daughter, Allura Altea, was the head of the cancer research center. She dealt with cancer cells exposure to the quintessence and how they responded to it. Keith worked in her department as her intern, mostly running errands and stuff, but he loved his job nonetheless. 

Keith and Pidge parted ways after leaving the small sandwich shop. He headed towards Altea inc. while Pidge headed the opposite way back towards school. She had a robotics meeting that required her to hack into the opponent's hard drive and fry the software. Normal high school student stuff. 

The familiar stench of disinfectant burned the inside of Keith’s nose, making the hairs on the back of his head stick up. He nodded towards the person at the front desk and weaved through halls to the back room. He threw his backpack into his designated locker and slipped on his lab coat. He checked the time on his phone before slipping it into his pocket. He threw his hair up into a messy ponytail and jogged towards the stairwell to meet up with Allura. 

At first sight, most people would assume Allura is lost, and wonder what she is doing in the research wing of a multi-million dollar company. Who can blame them, she’s breathtaking. Allura was tall, her figure commonly described as an hourglass. She’s stopped on multiple occasions by people wondering if she was a model. Despite her perfect figure, she was still toned and fit, and sometimes Keith was worried that she’d break the door every time she slams it in frustration when a certain experiment doesn’t work. Her dark skin and bright blue eyes gave her an exotic look, earning a few unappreciated stares from men when walking down the street. But that could only be blamed on her, usually opting for a sundress or a pair of shorts for her daily attire, she causes her father’s blood pressure to spike every time they argue about Allura having to wear company issued scrubs to protect any exposed skin. She loved her father, but they always fought about regulations and safety. Both are equally impulsive (and with Keith in the mix, it can only end in disaster) but Alfor’s concern for his daughter is above everything else. When Allura started dying her hair, he panicked thinking the chemicals would react with the radiation. She had to reassure him that the worse that could happen would be the long term damage that the silver color and bleach would cause her hair. He still wasn’t keen to the idea. 

When Keith walked into the lab, she was already busy running around balancing files and petri dishes in her arms. Strands of silver hair were falling from her bun, and her roots needed to be redone. Keith shook his head, deciding that that wasn’t important at the moment and rushed to catch papers that were falling onto the ground. He followed her around the lab before she stopped in front of her office door. She struggled to keep everything in her hands as she searched for her keys.

“Oh, quiznack.” Allura’s nose twitched when she uttered the made up curse, a detail Shiro never fails to point out when he comes and visits. She dropped the items in her arms on her desk, accepting the fallen papers Keith offered her. She offered a small smile in return.

“Thank you, Keith. As you can see, I’m a bit of a mess right now.”

He shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the desk, clearing a space to rest his arm. “I mean, when are you not? Every time I’m in here, it seems like you’re running around like a chicken with its head cut off.” 

Allura collapsed in her desk chair and brushed a few stray hair out of her face. “You can’t blame me. It feels like certain people are determined to make my life harder.”

As she said that, the door to her office was slammed open, another box of papers being dropped on her desk.

“Speak of the devil…”

Lotor stood on the other side of her desk, his nose upturned as he spoke down Allura, who looked ready to cut someone. 

“I need these organized and filed by Monday, it’s very important that they’re done on time.”

Allura raised an eyebrow and lifted the lid of the box, peering at the hundreds of messily stacked papers. “Why don’t you take these to Archives and let them deal with it?”

“Sorry, this is all sensitive information.”

Allura reached into the box and pulled out one of the papers, “Like the bills for your lunch orders that were charged to the company?”

Lotor growled and snatched the paper back, shoving it back into the box. “Just do it.”

Keith, who had been messing with the magnets on Allura’s desk, glanced into the box, “I can take care of them if you need me to.”

Looking as if he just noticed Keith was in the room, Lotor switched from a spiteful scowl to a soft grin. “Oh, hello Keith.” He scooped the box back into his arms, “Honestly, you don’t have to. I can have Archives handle it so you don’t have to go through that much trouble. We both know how much work Allura puts you through.” He sent a quick wink into Keith’s direction before turning on his heel and leaving the small office.

Allura and Keith exchanged silence glances, bursting into fits of laughter after Lotor left. Allura wiped a tear from her eye and patted Keith on the back. 

“I wish you could use your charms every time Lotor decides to waltz in and ruin my day.”

Keith’s face twisted into one of disgust, his pale skin doing nothing to hide the rosy color in his cheeks. 

Allura yawned and stretched her arms above her head. She grabbed one of the files on her desk and flipped it open. “Keith, be a dear and get a girl some coffee.”

He rolled his eyes and pushed himself away from her desk, “Yes, Princess.”

She smiled and waved him away, her attention back on her paperwork. Keith turned and rushed out of the office, careful not to run into any lab equipment. He checked his phone for the time; he may be able to check out the west wing without being gone for a suspicious amount of time. 

The west wing wasn’t exactly a wing. It was more of the back side of the basement that usually held computers and spare parts. Keith believed it was haunted, always getting a weird feeling every time he was sent down there for whatever reason. 

This time was no different. When he opened the door, he was met with a blast of cold air. He checked his phone one more time, confirming on his radar that this was where the high levels of radiation were coming from. He weaved his way through computers to where the coldest part of the room was. Nothing seemed out of place, except for a row of computers against the wall that seemed to be off. Keith stepped closer to examine them, taking note of the thin layer of spiderwebs that seemed to glow in the faint lighting of the basement. He brushed away a few of the webs and peered between computers, noticing another room hidden behind them

Now, at this moment, Keith probably should have turned back and told Allura about his findings. A secret room hidden under Alfor’s nose? Definitely suspicious. But, his curiosity got the best of him, and he stuck his fingers in the crevice and pulled open a space big enough for him to slip through. 

The room was dark, the whirring of air conditioners filling the silence. Keith fished for his phone out of his pocket, his hands shaking as he found the flashlight button. He shone the light around the room, taken back from what he saw.

“What the-” Taking up at least thirty shelves, were nests of bioluminescent spiders. They were no bigger than his pinky nail, and they all seemed to be in some sort of torpor, inactive from what Keith assumed was the air conditioning. He stepped closer to one of the nests, noticing that the web they spun was the same web that coated the wall of computers. He reached out and pulled a strand of the web, noticing how tough it was to break free. Unknown to him, the heat from his touch caused the nest to stir, waking up one specific spider. 

Keith didn’t notice the bug until he had squeezed back through the hole in the wall and sealed it back up. It was when he was in the elevator that the spider bit him, sending a searing pain up his arm and through his body. He cursed and swatted the arthropod, killing it in the process. He took a deep breath and examined the bruising that was forming in the crook of his elbow where the bite was, another string of curses falling from his mouth. The pain didn’t stop, feeling as if he was being burned alive from the inside out. Keith’s breathing became uneven as his body responded with burst of adrenaline, his vision becoming blurry. He stumbled out of the elevator and down the hallway, falling through the door of Allura’s office. 

“Hey, what took you so long? Did you get the coffee- Keith?!” She dropped her phone, immediately losing the game of Frogger she was playing, and jumped out of her seat, catching his body before he hit the ground. He groaned and sat up, his body feeling like lead. 

“I’m… I'm fine.” He managed to choke out. He pushed back his bangs that had started to stick to his forehead from his sweat, and managed a small smile. “I just had a small hot flash.”

Allura watched him with a concerned look, “Are you sure? Do you need me to call someone?” He shook his head and stood up, holding onto Allura for balance. 

“No, really. I'm fine. Just a bit tired.”

Allura guided him to a chair and picked up her phone from her desk. “I'm going to call Shiro to come pick you up. I don't trust you walking home by yourself.”

He nodded, a wave of fatigue crashing over him. The last thing he heard was a “be right there” from the speaker of Allura’s phone before everything blacked out. 

 

Keith felt a cool cloth being reapplied to his forehead. Trickles of cold water fell into his eyes, causing him to blink them open. He met concerned the concern black eyes of his brother. Shiro muttered a quiet apology, pulling the wet cloth back from his head. 

He looked around, finding that he was in his room back at the apartment, the last bits of sunlight filtering through his blinds as night fell across the city.

“Hey, are you feeling alright?” 

Keith sat himself up, pain shooting up his arm. Shiro helped him up, resting a pillow behind his back. Shiro still wore his uniform from work, his belts and pins still attached. The dark circles under his eyes told Keith that it had been a hard day at work.

“Did you have patrol today?” Keith’s voice was hoarse, his mouth parched. He took the glass of water offered to him and gulped it down. 

Shiro leaned back in his chair, his hand running through his hair in exasperation. “Complaints, actually. I was dealing with people’s complaints today.”

Shiro was an officer in training. He spent most of his time at the New York Police Department, working his ass off just to provide for him and Keith. 

Four years ago, their mother passed away from cancer. Though she was close with Keith and Shiro, her death really affected their father the most. He really loved his wife and without her, he found himself drinking himself half blind every night, neglecting his own children. Exactly one year after losing his mother, Keith lost his father too. He was 14 at the time. Shiro was a year from graduating college, attending school in New York. He found himself moving Keith from their small home in Texas to his even smaller apartment on campus. He was balancing classes, a pizza delivers job, and courses at the police academy. Three years later, Keith is in his junior year, and Shiro now had a full-time job on the force. They still call him in at ridiculous times, but he seems happy. Now, Keith just needs to figure out how to get his sorry ass to ask Allura out on a date. 

Shiro patted his pockets, trying to locate his phone that was ringing. He stood up and left the room, giving Keith another worried look before closing the door. 

Keith sighed and rubbed his eyes, his vision still slightly blurred. He blinked, his contacts suddenly becoming uncomfortable. He squeezed his eyes shut, his vision becoming even worse. When he found the feeling unbearable, Keith grabbed his phone and opened the front-facing camera, using it as his mirror as he fished out his contacts. He blinked his eyes a few times and glanced around the room, finding that he could see. 

He could see. 

Keith could see without his contacts. At first, he started to laugh. He was hallucinating, going crazy. There is no way that his vision suddenly became perfect in the few hours that he had been passed out. He picked up a textbook that laid on his desk and flipped to a random page, finding that he didn’t have a problem reading it. 

That’s when he started to scream. 

Shiro burst back into his room, eyes landing on Keith who was staring at his textbook and yelling at the top of his lungs. He let out a small sigh in relief and placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder, quieting the younger male. 

“Look, I know calculus is hard, but it’s nothing to scream about.”

Keith stared at his older brother for a few seconds before slowly nodding, his voice shaking as his spoke. “Er, yeah. Sorry. I just remembered that I had, uh, a math test tomorrow. Yeah. Forgot to study and all that.”

Shiro’s gaze softened. He ruffled Keith’s hair, earning a small whine from him. “Well, you don’t have to worry. You’re the smartest person I know.” he pulled on Keith’s cheek and gave him an apologetic smile, “They’re calling me in, something to do with a stray downtown or something. Will you be okay on your own?”

Keith swatted his hand away and rubbed his cheek, “I’ll be fine. I’m not a kid anymore.”

“You literally just passed out in Allura’s arms today.”

“You can’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing!”

Shiro’s face grew three shades darker. He gently shoved Keith’s shoulder and stood up. “Shut up. I have to go.”

Keith stuck his tongue out at him, “You know it’s true!” Shiro rolled his eyes and headed towards the door, Keith calling out behind him. 

“Make sure you catch mothman for me!”

“Mothman is in Texas, Keith!”

“He might be on vacation!”

Keith chuckled when the front door slammed shut, ending their conversation short. He leaned back in his bed, holding his arm out in front of his face. The bite was fading, to Keith’s surprise, the pain becoming more bearable. He could actually bend his arm without half of his body feeling like it was on fire. He had decided a long time ago that those spiders were the ones causing the large spikes of radiation, but what he had yet to find out is who created them and why. Someone in Altea inc. was working right beneath Alfor’s company, and Keith had a sneaking suspicion that that wasn’t a good thing.

Keith spent a few more hours on his laptop finishing some homework that was due next week, checking the radiation radar, and sending random memes back and forth between Pidge. He finally fell asleep around 1 o’clock, the faint sound of cars driving by putting him to sleep. 

* * *

When morning rolled around, Keith found himself on the ceiling. Like, actually hanging on the ceiling. When he opened his eyes, he was face to face with an upside down Gerard Way who usually towered over his bed in his signed My Chemical Romance poster. Keith’s was balancing on his toes and pads of his fingers, stuck to the ceiling above his bed. He gasped, his hands flying over his mouth to stop himself from screaming. Without the extra grip of his hands, he fell from the ceiling, flipped through the air, and landed on his back on his bed with a  _ thud _ . 

His heart was drumming in his ears, his fingers digging into his mattress. 

What. The. Hell. 

He laid in bed for another few minutes before his alarm went off, telling him to get ready for school. Keith gulped, peeling himself from his blankets. His legs wobbled as he made his way to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Keith felt like he was missing something, having skipping his routine of meticulously putting in his contacts. His toothbrush had stuck to his fingers, and he had pulled the front door halfway off its hinges in his rush to get to school. The shock of it all had worn off, leaving him finding everything really inconvenient.

When he got to school, he saw Pidge sitting on the front steps from the halfway point at  _ Smashing’s _ . She stood up when he rushed his way up to her, making a sound of surprise when he grabbed her arm and pulled her inside the building, into an abandoned classroom. 

Pidge pushed him away and brushed the wrinkles out of her shirt, “First of all, ow. That hurt. I kind of like that arm. Second of all, what has gotten into you?!”

Keith glanced around the classroom, worried that someone would walk in any moment. “Something strange is going on, Pidge. I think I’m going crazy.”

She clicked her tongue, “Hun, you’re already crazy.”

“No, really! First there was my contacts-”

“What about them?”

“I don’t need them! My vision is perfect! I could see you from eight blocks away!”

Pidge crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing him.

“It’s true!”

“Right.” She pulled the strap of her bag farther up her shoulder, “I think you might of hit your head yesterday or something.”

“That’s not even the weird part!” Keith stripped off his backpack and his jacket, rolling his sleeves up his arms. “Check this out.”

Pidge sighed and put her stuff down, finding herself a comfortable spot on top of one of the desks. She waved her hand, signalling for him to continue. 

Keith took and deep breath and stretched his fingers, crouching down in a running stance. He ran straight for the white board, jumping right into it. He extended his hands out, preparing to land on the board, but he miscalculated and crashed face first into the board. 

Pidge popped her lips and slid off the desk. “That’s it. You’ve gone completely crazy. It was nice knowing you. I’ve visit you in the asylum.” 

She was about to reach for the door handle and leave, when bumped foreheads with Keith. He was crouched on the ceiling, hanging low enough to block Pidge’s path. She jumped back, releasing a string of curses.

“Jesus- Keith, what the fuck?!” 

He fell from the ceiling and landed on his feet in front of her, brushing off his clothes as if he didn’t just crawl across the ceiling like the exorcist. “I told you. Something weird is going on.”

Pidge stared at him, her eyes narrowed as thousands of thoughts filled her head. 

“Okay, why don’t you start from the beginning.”

 

“Don’t you see what’s going on?” 

The two of them were sitting in the courtyard, continuing their conversation from that morning. Keith had finished explaining how his new strength had cost them a door when the first bell rang. They went through their first three classes before meeting back up for lunch. 

Pidge had her laptop out, her blueprint making program pulled up. “You’ve got crazy spider powers, dude. You’re practically a superhero.”

Keith picked at his sandwich, suddenly not feeling hungry. “I don’t know, it sorta feels like a curse to me.”

“Nonsense.” She turned her laptop to face him, “You’ve already got the strength and the ability to crawl on just about every surface. We just have to work on your web shooting skills.” She zoomed into the small box-like contraption on her screen, “I could totally make you some web shooters. You’ll just be in charge of the web fluid.” 

“The web fluid?”

Pidge turned her computer to face her again, “Yeah, I emailed you a formula. You can easily mix it up in Chemistry tomorrow.”

Keith leaned back on his elbows, grass tickling his arms. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. I mean, what if it’s temporary? What if in a few days the spider’s venom sorta just flushes out of my system?”

Pidge shut her laptop, “And what if it’s not? What if you have these powers forever? Are you really going to leave them to go to waste? Someone created those spiders for a reason, and I doubt it’s good. Maybe it’s your job to defeat him!”

“You’ve been watching way too many superhero movies.”

“C’mon, Kogane!” Pidge stood up and poked him in the forehead, “Where’s your heart at?”

Laughter caught their attention from across the courtyard. Lance was making his way in their direction, Hunk trailing behind him. 

“Keith? Have a heart? I doubt it.” 

Keith groaned and hid his face in his hands, “Can you not leave me alone for one day?”

“Nope.” He popped the p, a grin stretching across his face, “Besides, what would you do without me?”

“Have a will to live.” Keith responded, his face completely serious.

Lance’s smile faltered, taken back by his answer, “Er, what?”

Pidge stepped between the two, jabbing a finger into Lance’s chest, “Don’t you have something better to do than waste our time flirting with Keith?”

“WHAT?!” Keith and Lance yelled in unison, both blabbering excuses and reasons why that was absolutely ridiculous and how Pidge was wrong in the head. She only smirked and sat back down, pulling her laptop back into her lap. 

Lance crossed his arms and huffed, stepping back next to Hunk. “Come on, it’s not even worth it, anyways.” He turned away and walked back towards the building, Hunk hitting his palm against his forehead as he followed behind. 

Keith flicked Pidge in the ear, his face bright red, “Was that really necessary?”

She rubbed her ear and glared at him, “It got him to leave you alone, didn’t it?”

He rolled his eyes and hid his face in his hands. “I really hate you, you know that?”

“Yeah, I figured.”

* * *

Pidge and Keith spent the next few days building and tinkering the web shooters. The first day consisted of Keith mixing up the fluid and sneaking it out of school. Hunk didn’t even bat an eye as he mixed the components, too focused on the Bunsen burner in front of him. 

Around the third day, Pidge had convinced him that he needed a costume. At first, he thought the idea was ridiculous. A costume? What was he, twelve? But the more he thought about it, the most he was starting to agree with Pidge. You can only imagine the look he got when he asked Shiro where their mom’s old sewing machine was. 

“No, no, no. It has to be blue!” Pidge leaned across Keith’s bed, pulling his sketchbook towards her. “Blue totally screams good guy.”

Keith tugged the sketchbook back, tapping his pencil against the side, “I really like the idea of using red, though.” he pressed his lips together and colored in the bottom half of his sketch blue, adding a few accents on the sides and arms. Pidge nodded, approving of the blue and red color scheme. Keith smiled and finished drawing the mask, adding a dark outline around the eyes.

“Wow, alright. Calm down there, edgelord.” Pidge took the black pencil from his hand and turned the drawing to face her. She stuck her tongue out in concentration as she started adding lines to the drawing. 

“What are you doing?”

“Well,” she turned the book back towards him, “I thought it should at least give some sort of spider vibe.”

Keith took in the spiderweb pattern that covered the whole costume, and the big spider emblem that sat on the chest. His bit back a smile. 

“Well… that’s a lot of detail that we’re gonna have to add in.”

She punched his arm, “Shut up, you love it.”

He grinned and ripped the drawing from the sketchbook, folding it up and sticking it in his pocket. “How late does the fabric store stay open?”

 

They spent three days sewing. Having no experience with a needle and thread, the two sort of had some difficulty. They spent most of their time arguing with each other, and Keith almost stabbed a needle through his fingers on multiple occasions. By the end of it, they had ended up with something that looked like a suit a hero would wear. Keith complained that it looked like a leotard from the circus, but Pidge shushed him, assuring him that he would appreciate the flexibility.

Pidge was attaching the final touches: An earpiece in the mask so she could communicate with him, the web shooters and trigger in the gloves, and secret pockets (Though, Pidge was consider leaving them out so Keith would understand the struggle most girls went through. But she decided against it.). When the whole thing was finished, Keith was itching just to try it on.

Pidge sat on Keith’s bed, her laptop set out in front of her. She pulled up a radar that flashed where Keith’s location was on her screen and slipped a headset on. She gave him a thumbs up. 

Keith sat crouched on his windowsill, staring at the street below him. He gulped, his suit suddenly feeling constricting on him. What if the shooters didn’t work? Would he survive the fall? Is this how he dies? Well, at least he wouldn’t have to go to school anymore. Keith pulled his mask on, the communicator crackling in his ears. He noted how uncomfortably his hair rubbed against the back of his neck, he’d have to fix that. He returned the thumbs up to Pidge and stood up, his hand pointed towards the building next to him. It’s now or never. 

He pressed the trigger that sat at the base of his thumb, the web shooting and attaching to the top of the building. He jumped, thinking that he hesitated for too long he’d chicken out. 

Keith screamed. When you’re plummeting from the ninth story window of your room with only man-made spider silk fibers holding you up, you’d scream too. The web pulled taut, swinging Keith forward. He tightened his body and propelled his weight upwards, landing himself on the edge of the building. 

His heart was beating out of his chest, an impossibly large grin on his face. It worked. It actually worked! Pidge’s voice crackled in his ears.

“ _ Dude! You literally just soared through the goddamn sky! _ ”

Keith pressed the mic on the side of his mask. “I know. Awesome.” He heard a few keys clacking.

“ _ Do you think you can test the strength of the silk? _ ”

“What? Was being able to hold me up not a valid enough test?”

“ _ You don’t exactly weight that much, Keith. _ ”

“Hey!” He shot another web and swung to the next building, “Well, at least I’m over five feet!”

“ _ You leave my height alone! _ ”

Keith grinned. He hung off the side of the building, eyes scanning the streets. Parked behind an alley was two tractor trailers. The one parked in the front seemed to be getting ready to leave. Perfect.

He swung down and landed on top of the truck, attaching it to the truck parked behind it, still full from items being loaded into it. He then sat down with his legs crossed on top of the truck, his chest rumbling with the engine of the truck. It began driving forward, the web stretching a few feet before locking up, keeping the truck in place. 

Keith hummed happily, noticing the second truck start to creak and get dragged forward, the web showing no sign of fraying. When he was absolutely positive that the web wasn’t going to budge, he jumped off the truck to the closest building, swiftly climbing up to the top. He pressed the mic on his mask.

“It’s strong af.”

“ _ Please don’t ever say that ever again. _ ”

Keith rolled his eyes and maneuvered his way back to his window. He climbed through, shutting it as quietly as possible. He ripped the mask off and jumped on the bed, tackling Pidge into a hug. 

“I’m a fucking superhero!”

Pidge wrestled away from his death grip, pushing his headset off and putting it around her neck. “Not so fast, you gotta save some people first.”

Keith scratched the back of his head, “I mean, there isn’t much happening down the street.”

“Don’t you worry, my dude. I got this.” She typed a few thing on her keyboard, soon a police radio began speaking through her headphones. 

“Isn’t that, like, illegal?”

Pidge shrugged her shoulders, “Nah.” She put her headset back on, motioning him back towards the window. “Now, hurry up. There seems to be a mugging on 24th. There were gunshots heard.”

Keith nodded and rushed back to the window, snatching a hair tie off his desk on his way. After putting his hair up, he pulled his mask back on and jumped out the window, shooting his web in the direction of 24th street.

* * *

“Look, we both know that this is only going to end one of two ways: you get the fuck out of here and turn yourself in, or I blow your fucking brains out.”

Keith sat crouch on the ledge of an apartment building, hidden by the shadows as he watched the scene below him. 

A man in a red suit, swords (katanas maybe?) strapped to his back, was holding a gun to another man’s head, his other arm trapping the man against the wall. He was dressed in all black, a woman’s purse lying at his feet. The man in red pressed the gun harder against the mugger’s temple, his finger itching to pull the trigger. When the mugger refused to say anything, he shrugged, pulling back the safety.

“Alright. Blow your brains out, it is.”

Before could place his finger back on the trigger, Keith shot a web, plastering the gun to the wall. The action caught the attention of the man in red, allowing the mugger enough time to run away. The man in red placed his hands on his hips, making no effort to go after him. 

“Oh, come on! You know the author wouldn’t have actually let me kill you!” When he received no answer back, he threw his arms up in the air in exasperation. “Loser.” He turned and faced Keith, the white eyes of his mask trained on him.

“You can come down now.”

Keith landed before him, his stance cautious. The man in red bent his head back and sighed. 

“I’m not gonna do anything, I swear. You already glued Betsy to the wall.”

“You name your guns?”

“And you don’t?” He tilted his head, taking in Keith’s suit. “So what are you? Some patriotic insect?”

“I’m a  _ spider _ . They’re not insects!”

“Ah,” He leaned against the wall and pulled a knife out of his pocket, cutting away at the threads that held his pistol to the wall. “So you’re some sort of spider man?”

Keith crossed his arms. “I’m not telling you.” 

The stranger held his hands up,  “Ooh, we got Mr. Mysterious here.” he went back to freeing his gun, “I’m Deadpool.”

Keith tilted his head, “That’s a stupid name.”

“Not as stupid as Spider-man.”

“That’s not my name-!”

Deadpool finally pulled his gun free and put in back in its holster. Keith could see that embroidered on the side was the name ‘Betsy’. “Besides, you should be careful about what you say. They won’t like it.”

Keith stared at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “‘They’?”

“Yeah, ya know. The readers. We’re supposed to fall in love.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Deadpool sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “God, you’re just as stupid as the rest of them.” He gestured to the sky, “You see? It says right there: ‘m/m’, as in male slash male.”

Keith looked up to the sky, only seeing the night sky. He gave another confused look to the man before him. “I don’t…”

“Oh, baby. You got a lot to learn.” Deadpool was about to start his whole spiel about the author and how he pretty much knows what’s gonna happen because the tags do a pretty awful job at hiding the plot. Don’t get him started on the summary. He couldn’t believe how basic it made everything sound. Without his help and input, the summary would have been total garbage. Luckily, he came to the rescue. But all was interrupted by the static in Keith’s hood. 

“ _ Keith? Keith! _ ” Pidge’s voice sounded urgent. 

He spun away from Deadpool and hit the mic on his mask, “Yeah, what’s up?”

“ _ There’s an attack in front of Altea! Keith, it’s Shiro! Something’s happened! _ ”


	2. Another One Bites the Dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The talented Deadpool shows off his awesome skill and sweeps the beautiful Spider-Man off his feet. Or something like that. Just ignore the part about me flying through a window, or the part where I spent all night trying to free myself from my future boyfriend's bondage. Yeah, it'll make sense if you read the chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's freaking midnight, and I tried to finish this chapter as soon as I can. I like to get the first few chapters out as soon as possible, so if they suck, oh well. By the fourth or fifth chapter they'll probably start coming out every week or so. 
> 
> Yikes, okay, so I suck at writing action scenes, and drama scenes, I suck at writing in general so I'm sorry. I'm literally majoring in math and science like??? english goes right over my head
> 
> I also want to say thank you for all the positive feed back! It's been less than 24 hours and I've gotten twice the amount of kudos, bookmarks, comments, and hits than any of my other stories! I'm ecstatic!
> 
> But anyways, this chapter probably sucks. The fight sucks. The end sucks. The cliffhanger sucks. Everything sucks. Continuing on.

 

“ _ There’s an attack in front of Altea! Keith, it’s Shiro! Something’s happened! _ ”

Keith froze up on the spot, his hands curled up into fists. Deadpool tilted his head, staring at Keith with an odd curiosity. 

“Yo, hun, you okay?”

He slowly shook his head, extending his arm out towards the top of the apartment building.

“I have to go.”

He shot towards the roof, moving as fast as he could towards Altea inc.. Deadpool scratched the top of his head, watching Keith’s form swing from building to building. 

“Weird. I don’t remember Major Character Death in the tags.”

 

The sound of police sirens reached Keith’s ears as he made it to Altea’s headquarters. He landed in front of the building, his mind spinning from the blood that stained the ground. Shiro’s police car had been thrown through the third floor of the office, glass littering the streets. Keith swung up to the car and began digging through the debri, ignoring the glass shards and metal that dug into his fingers and pressed against his thighs.

“Shiro? Shiro!” Keith digging became more frantic. The car was empty, splatters of blood coating the driver’s seat and windshield. His breathing started to speed up, teetering on the edge of hyperventilating. 

“Come on, you have to be here!” Keith jumped back from the wreckage, his hand slamming against the side of his mask, “Pidge! I can’t find him! He’s not here! Where is he!” Before Pidge could answer, an ear-piercing shriek sliced through the night sky. 

Keith whipped around and muted his mask, finding himself locked eyes with the culprit of the devastation. 

Surrounded by police cars was a 40 ft alligator, snapping its jaws at anyone who dared to come close. It skin was black and scaly, lines of some blue, bioluminescent fluid pumping between its scales. Even from the third floor, Keith could feel the warmth of radiation searing off its skin, and he knew this was another experiment, just like the spiders. 

Most importantly was the gator’s tail, which was wrapped around the unconscious body of Shiro. 

Keith heard the police chief order for the squad behind him to fire, and he couldn’t help the intense rage that burned inside him. Keith knew that Shiro was still alive, yet the chief was still going to fire, possibly costing the life of his brother. When the hand went up, signaling the firing squad to get ready, Keith’s instinct took over and he shot towards the chief.

Web wrapped itself around the police chief’s arm, halting all orders. Keith landed in front of him, his web shooters aimed threateningly forward.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

The sudden appearance of Keith caused the creature to stir, the red of his outfit taunting the monster. It growled and snapped its teeth together, sending droplets of glowing saliva across the street. 

The adrenaline of the moment had died down, leaving Keith frozen on the spot. The gator’s maw surged forward, enclosing him in a prison of teeth. Just as the creature was about to take a bite out of Keith, a gunshot rang out, hitting the monster in the eye. 

It screamed and whipped it head towards the offender, its lone yellow narrowing. Deadpool blew the smoke that came out of Betsy, waving a few fingers at the now enraged alligator. 

“Sorry, ugly. I kinda like him, so you’re gonna have to find someone else to munch on.” He pointed his pistol at the other eye, shooting another three rounds. The monster cried out and moved its tail out in front of it, using Shiro’s body as a shield. 

Keith gasped and blocked the bullets with a web, “Hey! Watch out!”

“Well, I’m sorry! I can’t control where she moves her tail!” he pulled out another gun and ran straight towards the face of the radioactive gator, sliding right beneath the tail. 

He winked at Keith, “Hey, babe.”

Keith rolled his eyes and focused his attention on Shiro. He had to free him. He attached a web to the based of the creature’s neck and climbed up, his fingers gripping onto the edge of its scales. Deadpool cheered from the ground while avoiding the claws that were swiping at him.

“Way to go, Spidey!”

Ignoring Deadpool’s useless comments, Keith pulled at the tag that was embedded in the gator’s flesh. He ripped it free, coating himself in black blood, and slipped it in one of his hidden pockets, mentally thanking Pidge for the addition.

Pidge!

Keith crawled to the base of the tail, his eyes trained on the back of Shiro’s head as he was being whipped around. He unmuted his mask, welcoming the crackling of Pidge’s voice. 

“ _ Keith, what the fuck! I’m watching the news feed right now, what the hell is that thing?! _ ”

Keith plastered on of the monster’s legs to the road, trapping it in place. “It like a mutated alligator. I think it was made by the same people who created those spiders.” he somersaulted off the back of the gator, landing next to another leg. He webbed that one down too. “Pidge, it has Shiro. He’s trapped in its tail, I have to get him out, he’s dying!”

“ _ Hold on, give me a sec. _ ”

A bullet flew past his head, finding itself a home in the thigh of the left hind leg. The monster cried out, its back legs giving out. Its tail swept out, knocking Keith off his feet. Another bullet was shot, grazing past Shiro’s cheek and landing in the base of the tail.

“Deadpool!”

“Sorry!”

“ _ Keith? Who’s out there with you?! I hear gun shots! _ ”

He climbed back to his feet, “That’s not important right now. What should I do?”

He heard a few keys being clicked, “ _ You’re going to have to attack its head, eyes especially. That’s their biggest weakness. _ ”

Keith nodded with determination and ran straight towards its head, avoiding the swipe of claws and the snap of teeth. He passed Deadpool, who was currently clinging to the monster’s tail, being whipped back and forth. He finally lost his grip, being launched through the thirteenth floor of Altea inc.. Keith stopped and checked on Shiro to see if he was still wrapped in the tail, unconcerned about the body that just flew through a glass window. Deadpool waved down at him anyways.

“I’m okay!”

He scoffed and returned back to his mission. The alligator’s one eye was still injured, the thick black blood slowly clotting the wound closed, possibly blinding it forever. The other eye was still fully functioning, the beady pupil training itself on Keith’s form. Lips curled back, revealing rows of sharp teeth. Keith smirked and ran under its mouth, attaching a web under its chin. He pulled the silk and darted towards the closest wall, running up in and using his momentum to launch himself over the gator’s mouth. He swung around and around, tying his jaws shut. When he was sure that the monster wouldn’t be able to break free, he continued on with his plan. He covered its other eye with his web, completely blinding it. He finished sticking the last two legs to the road and focused on the tail. Currently, Shiro was being whipped around wildly, Keith noticing for the first time that blood was dripping from wounds hidden by the tail wrapped around his torso. 

The snapping of threads told Keith that time was of the essence. The creature was starting to pull itself free, its hind legs loosening themselves from the asphalt. Keith had to find a way to free Shiro from the tail, and fast. His eyes darted back and forth, trying to formulate a plan. He watched as the gator jerked and tried to wrestle itself free. He had an idea. 

Keith swung himself up to the thirteenth floor, where Deadpool was carefully pulling pieces of glass from his flesh. He ignored how his wounds seem to heal right up, leaving no evidence that he had been thrown through a glass window. 

“Hey, Spidey. Fancy seeing you here.”

Keith glanced back at the creature, watching as his left back leg broke free. “How sharp are your blades?”

Deadpool looked behind him, “You mean these babies? Mary-Kate and Ashley are the sharpest swords out there.”

Keith whipped around and shot a web towards the end of the monster’s tail, holding it still. He shot another web at the opposite end of the wall, using it as extra leverage. The monster screeched and pulled against the bonds holding him back, snapping even more threads that held his legs down.

“I need you to cut the tail off.”

Deadpool looked between Keith and the alligator. “Me?” he asked, pointing to himself. 

“ _ Yes! _ Any time now!”   


He pulled out his katanas and grinned, giving himself a running start before jumping out of the building. He made sure to add his own little flare to it, sending Keith a little wink before he dove towards the monster’s tailbone. 

“Yaba daba doo!” Deadpool swung his whole body, sending a powerful slice through the base of the gator’s tail. It screamed and thrashed, finally breaking free from the ground. It heaved forward, ripping the rest of its tail from its body, and sending Keith flying back towards the wall from the release of tension. The gator ran off into the night, leaving a trail of black blood behind it. 

The officers that had just been hiding and watching, finally climbed back into their cars and raced after it. A few stayed behind, watching as Keith swung from the building and landed next to Shiro’s body. He unwrapped the appendage from his brother’s torso, gagging at the sight of the damage. 

Shiro’s right arm had been bitten and halfway torn from his body. His skin was pale and covered in scratch and bite marks, the worst being across the bridge of his nose. Keith couldn’t help the tears that fell from his eyes, soaking through his mask. He collapsed onto his knees, frantically checking for a pulse, breathing,  _ anything _ . Keith pressed his ear to Shiro’s chest, a faint heartbeat filling him with hope. He sat back up, turning towards the lingering officers.

“Don’t just stand there,  _ help him! _ ”

Everyone seemed to reanimate at Keith’s plead. He rubbed his eyes, his tears blurring the netting around his eyes. When the news vans started to roll up, Keith decided it was time to go. Deadpool was nowhere to be seen when Keith scaled up the side of Altea’s building. He watched as Shiro was carried onto an ambulance, all feeling of worry soon being replaced with rage. 

Whoever was responsible for this  _ will pay _ .

* * *

When Keith made it back to his apartment, he couldn’t help the cries that forced their way out. He clambered through his bedroom window and ripped off his mask, his hand flying over his mouth to stop the sobs that wracked his body. Pidge jumped off the bed and ran into his arms, hugging him close. He buried his face into her hair, tears rolling down his face. He allowed her to him to his bed, giving permission to let it all out. Keith buried his face in the pillow that was placed in Pidge’s lap, comforting pats being placed on top of his head. 

“He’s going to be okay, Keith. Shiro’s tough, he’ll make it through this.”

Keith sniffled and nodded, tears staining his pillow. Pidge sighed and took off her glasses, placing them on his bedside table. She turned off the lamp that illuminated the room, shrouding them in darkness. She leaned back against the headboard and allowed Keith to cry, the two sitting like this throughout the rest of the night. 

 

For the next two weeks, Keith never left Shiro’s side. At about 4 o’clock the night of the attack, Keith got the call from the hospital telling him that his brother had been hospitalized. He stripped off his suit and changed into a pair of sweatpants and hoodie, trying to look like he had been sleeping for the past six hours and not fighting a giant, radioactive alligator. He and Pidge packed him a small overnight bag and called Coran, waking the man to ask for a ride to the hospital. 

Keith ended up skipping school, refusing to leave until Shiro woke up. He barely slept and barely ate, surviving on the anxiety that settled itself in his stomach. He would become more alert every time a nurse walked in, eyeing them cautiously when they took his vitals. When it was decided that Shiro wouldn’t be able to survive with the condition his arm was in, Keith has to be held down while Shiro was taken to get it amputated. By the third week, Pidge had to intervene, believing it was unhealthy for Keith to be surrounded by monitors and machines that determined the fate of his brother. 

“Come on, Keith. You’ve been at this for almost a month, you gotta get out of here.” She tugged on his arm, receiving no response. She huffed and stepped away, her hands now placed on her hips.

“I’m not going to sit here and watch you mope around.”

“Then leave.”

“Look, I want Shiro to wake up and be okay as much as you do, but you can’t just sit in here for who knows how long.” She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, “Since Altea is still being rebuilt, Allura said she can sit and watch him. She promised to call if he shows any progress.”

Keith shoved her hand off his shoulder and stood up, towering over Pidge’s sitting form. “You don’t understand! Shiro almost  _ died _ out there! That  _ thing _ could have killed him! What then, Pidge?!”

She stood up, her face calm despite her temper beginning to build up inside her. “You listen here: Shiro is not going to die. He’s going to survive because you saved him.  _ Spider-Man _ saved him. And I’m not just going to wait here while whoever did this to Shiro is still running around, mutating creatures and possibly taking away loved one’s from families. So are you just going to waste your time sitting here doing nothing, or are you going to go back out there and make sure that bastard pays for what he did?!”

Keith’s fists curled at his sides, his face red from anger. He ground his teeth together and nodded curtly. 

“You’re right. I have to do something.”

He grabbed his bag and threw it over his shoulder, determination flowing through his veins. He stormed out of the hospital room, Pidge following proudly behind him.    
  


One small detail Pidge might of left out was that Keith now had to go back to school. He was behind in all his classes, and he knew he couldn’t avoid all of his assignments forever. His first day back, the whole school was buzzing about the epic fight between “Godzilla and the Heroes in Red”. Keith groaned quite loudly when he first heard about the two heroes who worked together to take down the monster who was terrorizing the city. 

“Are they still on that?”

Pidge shrugged and pulled the newspaper from two weeks ago out of her bag, the headline “WHO ARE THESE MASKED HEROES?” in a bold font. “Yeah, you’re a pretty big deal.”

Keith slammed his head against his desk, earning a dirty look from their math teacher, who was currently going over the function of sine and yada, yada, yada. He rested his cheek in his palm and sighed. “Why do people even care. When we finally catch the asshole who has been experimenting with quintessence, Spider-Man will just be another forgotten hero.”

“Nonsense.” Pidge pulled out her phone and opened up Instagram, “You’ve already got fanblogs and everything. A lot a people have a major crush on you. Some of them are even dudes.” She wiggled her eyebrows, poking fun at Keith.

He blushed and reached over, turning Pidge’s phone off. “Shut up.”

The bell rang, signifying the end of classes for the day. The two gathered their things and followed the crowd of students out into the hallway, stopping by Keith’s locker as he got the rest of his books. Pidge held the paper out in front of her, examining the pixelated picture of the two figures who were attacking a vague shape that sorta represented a reptile. 

“So, who is this sidekick of yours. You never actually told me.”

Keith shut his locker and leaned against in, his back hitting cool metal. “Oh, that’s Deadpool. I found him in the alley on 24th threatening to kill that mugger you sent me after.” he shrugged, “He’s pretty strange, if you ask me.”

“Strange? How so?”

“I don’t know, he was talking about all sorts of crazy things like an author, readers, he even said that we were supposed to fall in love.” Pidge raised an eyebrow at him. He brushed it off and pushed himself away from his locker, “He was strange, but he helped me save Shiro. I haven’t really seen him since then, I was a bit occupied.”

“I wonder who this ‘Deadpool’ is when he’s not a fourth-wall breaking superhero?”

“Well, whoever it is, they’re a loud-mouthed, annoying, flirt who never seems to take anything seriously.”

“Yo, Mullet!”

Keith inwardly groaned, this was all he needed today. He turned around and banged his head against his locker, maybe he could also put himself in a coma. 

Lance strode over to him, his normal cocky grin replaced with a look of worry. He placed a hand o Keith’s shoulder.

“Hey, man. I heard about your brother, are you alright?”

Keith glanced at the hand on his shoulder and then back at Lance, whose blue eyes conveyed true concern and… something else. He turned his head away, breaking eye contact. 

“Why do you care? If this is some sort of sick joke, it’s not funny, Lance.”

“What? No! I just wanted to see if you were okay!”

Pidge shoved Lance away, standing between him and Keith. 

“Dude, just leave us alone. Don’t you have someone else to bother?”

Lance growled, “This doesn’t concern you, Gunderson.”

“Like hell it doesn’t.” She crossed her arms and stuck her nose up in the air, “As Keith’s best friend, it’s my job to make sure jerks like you don’t go rubbing salt into his wounds.”

He scowled, eyes burning holes into her skull, “This story isn’t about you.”

Keith’s head snapped up, attention now fully on Lance, “What was that?”

“Er, uh,” Lance scratched the back of his neck, “Nothing. It was nothing.” He took a step back, body turning towards the school’s exit, “Just forget about it. I hope your brother gets better soon.”

Pidge glared at the back of Lance’s head as he left, his steps quick as he tried to escape the situation. 

“What a weirdo.”

Keith watched him leave, questions filling his mind, “Yeah, weird.”

* * *

“Haven’t seen you in awhile.” 

Keith sat on the edge of the water tower on the other side of the city from his apartment. The cool night air cooled his burning skin, warm from swinging from building to building, searching for any sign of something that would lead him to whoever was conducting these experiments. 

Deadpool’s head popped up, greeting Keith with a smile, or what he thought was a smile for the area on his mask around his mouth moved up. He finished climbing the ladder and found himself a spot next to Keith, exhaustion overcoming him. 

“You know, you could have pulled me up here so I didn’t have to climb all those rungs.”

Keith smiled, glad it was hidden behind his mask. “Well, when you yell ‘Spider-Babe, oh Spider-Babe, please let down your web’, it really turns a guy off.”

Deadpool leaned in close, his eyebrows raised in a teasing manner, “And what exactly turns you on?” Keith rolled his eyes and shoved his shoulder, earning a chuckle from the other man. 

Silence fell over the two as they both watched the streets below, the faint sound of traffic being the only sound between them. Keith sighed.

“What am I doing?” He placed his head in his hands, “I’m chasing an unknown enemy with no leads. Am I going crazy?”

Deadpool tilted his head, “I know crazy, and you’re not it. Whoever created that monster almost cost you your brother’s life, you have a right to be mad.”

Keith slowly lifted his head from his hands, voice accusing, “I never told you that he was my brother.”

The atmosphere around them became tense, Deadpool visibly stiffened, excuses pouring from his mouth. 

“I-it’s not what you think! It’s just that you seemed really keen on saving that guy and I assumed you were really close so I sorta just thought-”

Keith stood up and webbed him against the water tower, “Listen, you obviously know a lot about me while I know absolutely nothing about you. So why don’t you spill before I decide to throw you off the ledge.”

Deadpool just blinked up at him. “You’re pretty hot when you’re mad.”

“That’s it!” Keith grabbed his shoulders, preparing to rip him from the wall, when he felt a piece of metal scrape across his thigh inside one of his hidden pockets. He froze, nails digging into Deadpool’s skin. He slowly pulled away, cautiously pulling the piece of metal from his pocket. He recognized it as the tag that he ripped from the reptilian monster’s neck, flecks of dried, black blood still coating it. Keith flipped it over, rubbing away the blood in order to read the lettering.

 

**EXP. 146**

**GALRA CORP.**

 

Keith stared at the tag in his hand and shot a web in the direction of his apartment, completely forgetting about the antihero he had plastered to the water tower. Deadpool struggled against his bonds, watching helplessly as Keith swung away.

“Hey! Get back here!” he huffed, quickly giving up on trying to free himself. 

“Welp, I guess I’ll just sit here… waiting for the scene change.” 

 

Pidge expected the tap at her window sooner or later. The first time back out in his suit. Keith was bound to drop by and visit. What she didn’t expect was that he’d bring some crucial evidence to who was responsible for all the radioactive experiments they have ran into for the past few weeks. 

As Keith climbed through the window, he was already pulling off his mask, words pouring from his mouth. 

“SoIwasonthewatertowertalkingtoDeadpoolwhenInoticedIhadsomethinginmypocketwhichIhavetothankyouforputtingtheminbutanywaysIgotthistagforthatmonsterthingthatwasattackingShiroand-”

Pidge held up her hand, stopping his rambling, “Why don’t you try that again.”

He took a deep breath, “I think I know who’s behind all this.” he held out the tag to her. She carefully picked it up, eyes scanning over the words. She slid off her bed and walked over to her desk, turning on one of three computer monitors. Keith never asked why she needed so many screens and computers, always worried that what he’d hear would cause him to learn about some government secret that would change his life forever, and he could never live a normal life again. Well, not that it mattered now, anyways.

Pidge opened a new tab and pulled up Google, typing the name of the company in the search bar. She flipped through a few pages, finding information on corporations but nothing on Galra. She pressed her lips together in thought and leaned back in her chair, fingertips tapping together. 

“Interesting.”

Keith was growing impatient. As Pidge was searching, he was pacing back and forth, twisting his mask in his hands. His pacing starting getting out of control and he ended up doing a 360 around Pidge’s room, avoiding her fan as he crossed over her ceiling. When she pushed herself away from her desk, Keith jumped down and joined her, foot tapping impatiently. 

“Well?”

Pidge spun in her chair and faced him. 

“Sorry, dude. It seems like it’s not a real company.”

“What?! That can’t be right, I literally ripped that thing from the back of a fucking dinosaur! There has to be something!”

She shrugged and tossed the tag back to him, “I checked Google. I even went four pages deep - No one goes past the first page! It’s not a real company!”

Keith pulled at his hair, his temper getting the best of him. “Pidge! These people almost cost Shiro his life! Doesn’t that mean anything to you!”

Pidge spun her chair back to face her computer, “Well… I guess I could check one more place.”

She typed in a line of code onto her screen, pulling up a glitching webpage with a single white bar in the center. Pidge typed in the name of the corporation again, this time thousands of results popped up, all centered around the new found research being put into the newly discovered quintessence. 

Keith wheeled her away and stood in front of the screen, eyes scanning for a name. Pidge rammed his chair back into him, pushing him out of the way. He peeked over her shoulder, anxious about what she found. 

Pidge placed her elbows on her desk and pushed up her glasses, the screen glinting off the lenses wickedly. 

“It seems as if we found our guy.”

Keith shoved her away, pairing the picture that sat in the corner of the screen with the name. He dug his fingers into the wood of the table, his voicing coming out as a spiteful growl.

“Sendak.”

* * *

School droned on for the rest of the week, and there was no news from Allura. Keith finally caught up on his work, spending his time during the day in class studying and doing school work and a few hours after class to work on homework. In the evening Keith would visit Shiro, spending hours on end talking about his day, hoping that it would wake him, or at least earn some sort of reaction. At midnight, he would sneak out and change into his suit, searching the city for any sign of Galra or Sendak. That left little time for other things like sleeping or eating. Not that they were important, anyways.

When the next week rolled around, Keith could barely keep his eyes opened. From the studying, talking, and patrolling, he was getting 3 hours of sleep, at least. He suffered through his first period, wanting to actually throw himself off a bridge. If he had to hear his english teacher talk about how perfect Daniel Day Lewis was in  _ Last of the Mohicans _ again, he was going to fulfill that promise. 

By second period, Keith was half asleep on the desk, only to be woken up by the smell of coffee being brewed in a beaker. He slowly lifted his head, blinking up at Hunk who offered him a mug.

“Cream or sugar?”

Keith just muttered a thank you and knocked back the drink, appreciating the caffeine in his system. He laid his head back down on the desk, the cool feeling of the marble countering the warmth of the coffee. 

Hunk placed the beaker back on the hot plate and started brewing another cup, “Rough week?”

“Yeah.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

Keith turned his head, his cheek now squished against the table. “I’m just worried.”

“About your brother?”

He nodded, “Yeah…"

“Well,” Hunk blew the steam from the beaker and offered it to Keith, who took it graciously, “I believe that he’ll be okay, Lance believes, Pidge believes, do you?”

The beaker was pressed against Keith’s lips, the steam barely brushing his nose, “Lance does?”

“Oh yeah.” Hunk pulled a rag from his bag and started wiping the counter. “Lance is just as worried as you are. All he talks about is how serious his injuries were and whatnot. I don’t think he’s ever met the guy.”

Keith finished the cup of coffee and handed the beaker back to Hunk, who took the rag and cleaned it out. He bit his lip, chewing it in thought. 

“Not that I know of, Lance never once cared about me or my family.”

Hunk snorted, his hand flying over his mouth to quiet himself. Keith furrowed his brows, staring at him quizzically.

“What?”

He shook his head, “Nothing, nothing.” The bell rang and Hunk rushed out of the classroom, unable to control his laughter. 

Keith went through third period, more confused as ever. When the lunch bell rang, he couldn’t recall what they went over, his train of thought on other things. He walked to his locker to get his lunch, hoping to express his concerns to Pidge and have her spread some wisdom on the issue. 

While walking down the hallway towards the courtyard, a hand reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him into an empty classroom. His fingers instinctively flew to the base of his palm to wear his web shooters usually sat, his hands held out uselessly out in front of him. 

Lance stood before him, arms crossed against his chest. An amused grin was on his face as he observed Keith’s stance, finding it ridiculous. 

“You good there, Mullet? I’ve never seen someone become so defensive so fast.”

The flare of anger that erupted in his chest made Keith realize how he had missed that feeling. For the past week, Lance had been avoiding him, making no effort to confront him for the past seven days. Keith noted that it started after his little argument with Deadpool, who also seemed to be avoiding him. 

“Um…”

Keith remembered that Lance was there, his body language reading discomfort. He seemed to be debating with himself, his eyes darting back and forth across the floor. When Keith made an effort to leave the room, he reached out and grabbed his sleeve, stopping him from going anywhere. 

“Wait, uh, Keith!” He yanked his arm back, his hands finding a home in the pockets of his hoodie, “I, uh, need to talk to you.”

Keith quirked an eyebrow, his eyes squinting in suspicion towards the nervous boy before him. When he didn’t say anything, Lance took that as his sign to continue.

“I should probably address the obvious: Yeah, so I’m sort of Flash Thompson, the tag kinda go that right.” he teetered on his heels for a bit before continuing, “But I don’t mean to be! I mean, that’s how I’m written so I  _ have _ to be, but you can’t blame me! I really don’t have a choice!”

Lance ran his hands through his hair and pulled, eyes wide and frantic, “I wish I had a choice, I really do. And I try to make things better, but it only seems to make things awkward. I tried comforting and all that; hell, I got thrown through a window - a window! You would have thought that I would have proven myself by now!”

He continued to ramble, completely losing Keith. He watched as Lance pulled at his hair and scratched at his face, trying to find the right words. Eventually, Keith began to get impatient, his free period slowly ticking away.

“Is there a point to this?”

Lance paused, his eyes meeting Keith’s. He took a deep breath and nodded, pulling his arms down to his side. 

“I know you’re Spider-Man.”


	3. Under Pressure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, these dashing heroes learn to work hand and hand, fighting their way out of trouble (while getting into some of their own). Will they be able to cooperate long enough to find out more about the Galra? Will Shiro ever wake up? Will Lance ever get the balls to tell Keith how he feels? Er, about his hair, of course. Truly tragic. Nothing else to reveal. No other feelings or anything. Nope. Nada. Just read the damn chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm running out of good songs, whoops. I mean, Under Pressure is a great song, but does it fit the mood? Find out next time on: I Only Listen to Bands from 2006 and Have No Idea What I'm Doing

Keith’s world came to a screeching halt. He stared at the fidgeting man before him, a small smile of disbelief on his face.

“Uh, what?”

Lance clasped his hands together and bounced on his legs, itching to spill everything that’s on his mind. “I know you’re Spider-Man. I mean, I knew you were Spider-Man from the beginning. If the bulge on the back of your mask from where you tie up your hair wasn’t obvious enough, it was definitely your bossiness. And fuck, I could recognize that ass anywhere. Like honestly, spandex? Best idea ever. Send my regards to Pidge, she’s a genius.”

As Lance rambled, Keith just froze in place, his eye twitching. Lance knew he was Spider-Man. Lance knew he was a superhero. Lance McClain thought he looked really good in spandex- No, that wasn’t important at the moment. He shook his head. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” his soft chuckles brought Lance back to earth. Keith gently pressed his hand to his mouth, hoping to hide his nervousness. “You think  _ I’m _ Spider-Man? Me? I can’t even touch my toes, and you expect me to do all the backflips and somersaults he does when jumping from building to building? That’s rich, McClain. I think you’ve finally lost your mind.”

Lance had gone completely still, his mouth slightly agape as color rushed to his face. “I’m not crazy! Er, well I am, but that’s not the point! I  _ know _ you’re him, Keith! You don’t understand!”

“No, you don’t understand,” Keith backed up towards the classroom door, his hand bumping into the door handle, “I’m not some sort of crime fighter. I’m as useless as the officers that watched as that thing threw my brother around.” He opened the door and stepped out of the classroom, tears rimming his eyes, “Goodbye, Lance.”

Keith slammed the door behind him, leaving Lance alone with his thoughts. Lance tilted his head up to face the ceiling, his hands placed firmly on his hips.

“Really? You didn’t tell me I’d have to face some goddamn  _ Klangst _ .” 

He ruffled his hand through his hair and sighed, muttering to himself about how he should be warned properly next time. He strode over to the door, hoping to catch Keith before he disappeared into the lunch crowd. 

* * *

“Leave me alone, Lance.”

Keith had escaped him in the courtyard, quickly locating Pidge and dragging her to the library, one place he knew Lance would never find him. During class changes, Keith would have to dodge and weave through the busy hallway just so he could avoid the persistent Cuban boy. 

When school ended, Keith parted ways with Pidge, promising to save her a bite of his sandwich after her Robotics meeting. He was cutting through an alleyway when a hand roughly grabbed his shoulder and pushed him against the wall. Before he could protest, a hand flew out and covered his mouth.

“ _ Jesus _ , you are a fucking fast walker.” Lance pulled his hand away and took a step back. Keith’s expression morphed into anger, his teeth grinding together as he prepared to lash out. Lance pressed a finger to Keith’s lips, pushing his head back against the wall.

“Nope, shut up, you’re going to give me a chance to explain myself.”

Keith rolled his eyes and crossed his arms against his chest, giving Lance permission to speak. Said man clasped his hands behind his back and began pacing back and forth.

“Where do I start? Maybe from the beginning? Well, on a cool October night, my mother and father decided that they wanted one more troublemaker running around their small, Cuban cottage. With the door locked and the lights dimmed, they-”

“No,” Keith pointed a finger at him, “I’m going to stop you right there. If you’re going to be weird, I’m leaving.” he pushed himself away from the wall and tightened the straps to his backpack, turning to face the other end of the alley. Lance leaped forward and grabbed both of Keith’s shoulders, stopping him in his tracks.

“Wait! I’m sorry, fuck, I’m bad at this.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, tugging on the ends, “I guess I should actually start with the whole claiming you’re Spider-Man thing.”

“We’ve already gone over this, I’m not him. I’m not Spider-Man.” he pushed Lance away once again, his patience slowly dwindling. Lance rubbed and dragged his nails down his face, equally irritated. 

“God, I knew you were stubborn, but this is ridiculous.” he took a deep breath, “Really, if you knew who you were talking to, you wouldn’t be denying everything like a goddamn idiot.”

The hairs on the back of Keith’s neck stood up, his senses tingling. He caught Lance mid-sentence, his body slamming against his as a bullet whizzed past. Lance raised his eyebrows, an amused smile on his face as the shorter male pinned him to the wall.

“Geez, Keith. At least take me out to dinner first.”

Another bullet flew past, grazing Lance’s left ear. He shut up.

Keith threw off his backpack and ripped it open, wasting no time pulling out his two web slingers. He tugged the gloves on his wrist, adjusting the trigger and the base of his palm. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he stood up, he caught Lance throwing off his jacket and pulling his shirt up, exposing his chest.

“Whoa! Hey,” Keith shielded his eyes, a faint blush barely making its way across his cheeks, “It this really the time to be doing this?” he watched the opening of the alley, three burly men stood at the end, guns in their hands. One of the men stood empty handed, the taller of the three. He was bulky with a purple-ish tint to his skin, his eyes glowing a sickly yellow. Fur sprouted from his skin in patches, his body giving off mutated bull vibes. He huffed, his body aimed right at him. Keith cursed and turned his attention back on Lance, adrenaline beginning to make its way through his body.

Strapped across Lance’s torso were fully loaded guns and a few knives, all labeled with name tags respectively. Lance unholstered Genevieve and Tina, matching glocks that seemed to sit naturally in his hands. He pulled down his shirt, the bagginess in his tee the fact that he had fatal weapons under his clothing. Keith could only stare.

“Lance, what the fuck? Have you been wearing that the whole time?”

Lance checked Tina for ammo, reloading her cartridge with a serious look on his face. “Mhm.”

“Are you out of your mind?!”

He didn’t have time to answer. One of the three men came barreling down the alley, his body turned and prepared to body slam Keith into the wall. He dodged last second, backflipping out of the way as the man collided with the bricked surface, collapsing on the ground in the process. Lance whistled. 

“Didn’t know you were one for theatrics, Kogane.”

Keith rolled his eyes, turning his attention back onto the other two men. One aimed his gun, firing off four bullets in succession. He dodged three of them, the fourth one catching the edge of his knee, barely scratching the skin. Keith clambered up the wall as Lance started firing at the two targets, paying no attention to the third that had started to stir. 

Keith crouched a good ten feet above everyone, avoiding bullets and watching as Lance distracted. The third man finally got to his feet and shook the debris from his hair, his body shaking with rage. He dug his heel into the dirt and rolled his shoulder, preparing to charge at Lance. The man let out a roar and ran head first towards Lance, leaving him little time to react. Keith attached a web to Lance’s back and attached the other end to the end of a fire escape, yanking Lance off the ground and out of the way. He bounced a few times before stopping and dangling, his legs kicking out over the alley. 

“Totally unnecessary! I could have taken care of him!” Lance pumped his legs, swinging himself back and forth. He holstered one of his guns and pulled out a knife, he then used his momentum to cut the web and slingshot himself towards the other two guys, glock and knife in hand. 

Keith took it to himself to take care of the bull, landing right in front on the staggering man. He growled and swiped at him, but Keith easily ducked. His smaller form gave him an advantage against the lumbering figure, and he landed a quick punch in the nose. The man cried out and cupped his face, the same black blood the alligator had, dripping down his face. Distracted by the revelation, Keith found the man’s hand wrapped around his neck, those familiar yellow eyes grinning maliciously down at him. He clawed and pulled at the hand around his neck, black spots darting his vision. His nail caught onto a metal plate that was bonded in the man’s wrist. He stuck his fingers under it and pulled, ripping the tags from his flesh. He roared and threw Keith the the ground, black blood now flowing down his hand. 

Keith rubbed the bruises around his neck and stood up, his knees bent, ready to make a moke any time. The two stood, eyes locked together, waiting for the other to strike. The bull-man - Minotaur, maybe? - lowered his body, ready to charge once again, but failed to, caught off guard by the bullets that tore into its back. 

Lance was running from the two other men, bullet holes littering his body. Every time a bullet was shot at him, it would rip through his flesh and tear out the other side, then burying itself in the Minotaur. Keith watched dumbstruck as Lance’s wounds seemed to heal themselves immediately, the only time he’d seen someone heal that fast was when they had been thrown through a glass window by a radioactive reptile. He began to connect the dots, a lightbulb going off inside his head. Lance ran up the wall and jumped over the Minotaur, landing right next to Keith. He stretched his arms above his head and cracked his neck, bullets pushing themselves out of his skin. Keith’s jaw dropped. 

“Lance, you’re Deadpool?!”

He grinned, Keith could image what parts of his mask would move just to mimic that exact expression, “The one and only.”

The bull-man roared once again, and the two split up. Lance began climbing the fire escape while Keith climbed up the wall on the opposite side of the alley, trying to avoid collision with the mutant.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were Deadpool?!”

Lance fired a few more shots at the three men and continued climbing up the stairs. “I tried! But you kept running away from me!”

A bullet grazed Keith’s cheek, earning a small hiss of pain from him. He rubbed the blood from his cheek and fired a web at the culprit, successfully plastering his gun the the wall. He continued climbing. “Well that doesn’t explain how you knew I was Spider-man.”

Lance got to the roof and strapped his guns back on. “First, you were pretty determined to save your brother from that monster,” Keith jumped from roof to roof, joining Lance’s side, “But really, you can’t hide a god awful mullet under a mask, hun. It was that first thing I noticed.”

Keith rolled his eyes and leaned over the edge of the roof, webbing their bags up to the roof with them. He tossed Lance’s bag to him and threw on his own pack. The fire escape creaked with the weight of the Minotaur, his steps heavy and loud. Lance and Keith looked at each other, both nodding in silent agreement at what they had to do. They clasped hands and ran towards the other end of the roof and jumped off the edge just as the man reached the top of the stairs. Lance wrapped his body around Keith’s as he shot a web towards a skyscraper a few blocks away, swinging them to safety.

* * *

“So, is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?”

Pidge sat in her normal seat at their table in  _ Smashing’s _ , Keith sat across from her, Lance’s jacket wrapped around him to hide the dark bruises that wrapped around his neck. His leg bounced up and down anxiously, his eyes darting back and forth from the window to the door. Pidge sighed and slid her laptop onto the cramped table, pushing back baskets and chips bags into Keith’s lap.

“At least tell me why  _ he’s _ here.” Her eyes darted to the third person at their table. Lance was slurping on milkshake, looking between Pidge and Keith. He had changed into his gym shirt, finding it inappropriate to go eat in a shirt littered in bullet holes and blood. He sent a smile in Pidge’s direction, who only stuck her tongue on in return.

Keith bit his thumb, brows drawing together in thought. He stared at the tag in front of him, GALRA CO. written in black lettering across it. “How did they find me?”

“What?”

“The Galra! How did they find me?” Keith pushed himself away from the table, the back of his chair hitting the wall. Lance placed his glass on the table and placed a hand on Keith’s leg. 

“Hey, man. There’s no need to worry. It’s just how the story planned to progress on.”

“Uh…” Pidge stared at the hand on Keith’s leg and the concerned look Lance held for him. She she shook her head and went back to typing on her computer, pulling up the radioactivity radar. She whistled and leaned back in her chair, “You guys are glowing.”

Their attention was drawn to the screen that was turned towards them, large amounts of quintessences was radiating off the two points on the radar that signified Lance and Keith. 

Pidge turned her computer back to face her, “Anyone with internet connection can track you guys. You’re radioactive.”

Keith turned in his seat and faced Lance, who stared at his milkshake to avoid eye contact. 

“So, are you going to tell us what happened to you?”   


Lance took a fry and swirled it in his glass, taking his time chewing on it. He shrugged, “It’s not really that important.”

“I’d say it’s pretty important.” Pidge closed her laptop, “There’s some mysterious corporation that wants to kill you, so I’d be a little concerned.”

“It’s not like I can be killed, anyways.” Lance laced his fingers behind his head, “You guys don’t have anything to worry about, either. Remember? There’s no major character death in the tags.”

“What the hell are you even talking about?!” Keith slammed his hands onto the table, the hood of Lance’s jacket falling off. “Can you make some sense for once?!”

Lance narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips into a tight line. “Fine. You want to hear my story? Well, here it is,  _ mi amigos _ . It’s not a happy one.

“About a year ago, my family was in some serious debt. My parents worked five jobs all together. My dad cleaned tables during the day and worked in road construction during the night while my mom was a maid and nanny during the week, and a seamstress in her free time. Let’s just say some shit happened that lead to my parents being fired from half their jobs and they were struggling to support me and my siblings. 

“Look, I’m the youngest, so the most I could do was babysit nieces and nephews. Yeah, I ran errands, offered to mow lawns, and pick pocketed one or two times. But once my mama asked where I was getting all this money, she made sure I never did it again.”

Lance stared out the window, his tongue running over his lips anxiously. He leaned forward in his seat, his voice shaking. 

“I was looking through the paper, like people do, skimming the job listings for something that I could do. There was an ad for volunteers to test out a new procedure at Altea. You would have thought that maybe the lack of information given would have been a red flag, or maybe that the phone number listed did even go through the front office. But what can I say? They were offering to pay me and I needed the money.

“The day of, I didn’t even go inside the building. A guy in a dark robe took me through the back entrance and took me somewhere dark. The basement, maybe? I don’t know. What I do know is that I was a fool for not turning back. All I remember after that is a lot of goddamn pain. So much pain.”

His fingers dug into the table, prompting worried glances from Pidge and Keith. Lance started to laugh, the seriousness of his tone clashing with his giggles. 

“Fuck, and then the voices started whispering, words started appearing, cuts and scratches started healing unnaturally fast, and then I knew. I knew that my life, your lives, everyone’s lives were just toys for others to manipulate and play with for their own enjoyment.”

Lance leaned back and placed his hands in his lap, shrugging as if it was no big deal. “Yep. That’s pretty much it.” He picked up another fry and raised it in the air before popping it in his mouth.

Keith stared in disbelief, his mouth hanging open. Lance opened a peppermint and stuck it in Keith’s mouth, pushing his jaw closed. He patted Keith’s cheek and stood up, his hands finding their way to the pockets of his jeans.

“Welp, mama’s getting off late tonight, so it's my job to make dinner.” He picked up his backpack and ruffled Pidge’s hair. 

“And Keith? Keep the jacket. It looks good on you.” 

Lance winked and leisurely sauntered to the door, whistling Disney songs on his way out of the restaurant. 

Neither one of them said anything, their minds wrapping around the last few minutes. Keith gasped and pressed his fingers to his lips, a flustered blush spreading across his face. Pidge cleared her throat and nudged her glasses farther up the bridge of her nose, her eyes flickering back to her computer screen. 

“Did you know that he runs at least four Spider-Man fan pages? What a weirdo.” 

Keith stared at the seat Lance was just in, a faint blush barely dusting his cheeks. Pidge closed her laptop and tucked it under her arm. She pushed herself away from the table, rummaging through her bag to make sure she wasn't leaving anything behind. Certain that she had everything, Pidge stood up and shouldered her bag, looking down pitifully at Keith who just stared out into oblivion. 

“You comin’?”

He slowly lifted his head and nodded curtly. “Yeah, let's go.”

Keith took his time getting up from the table, the feeling of Lance’s coat weighing him down. He tugged the jacket around him tighter, hiding the bruises the best he can. The longer they sat, the more grotesque they became. The greenish tint that bursts from the bruises expressed the pain Keith felt every time he swallowed. He grabbed his bag from off the chair and dragged it behind him, following Pidge out the door and towards the hospital. 

 

The concerned look that Allura greeted them with was enough to cause Keith to sprint off into a panic. Allura sat in the front lobby, fingers playing with the hem of skirt nervously. When Keith and Pidge walked through the doors, she quickly got up, her hands outstretched to keep the atmosphere calm. 

“Before you go and check on your brother, I should let you know that the nurses are facing some complications with Shiro’s diagnosis and-”

She didn't get to finish her statement before Keith broke out into a run down the hallway, his sneakers squeaking against the polished tiles. Along the way he lost his bag, his books discarded somewhere in the hospital. He threw the door open to room 106, disrupting the work of the nurses that huddled over the unconscious body of Shiro. Keith shoved his way through to the side of the bed, his eyes flickering over the white strands that sprouted out of the tuff of hair on the top of Shiro’s head. Security had to be called in to hold Keith back, for what he saw next caused him to go ballistic.

A nurse was rebandaging Shiro’s amputated arm, giving Keith only a glance of the damage. Growing from the scar at the end of his arm were dark veins, pulsating with black venom. His skin started growing a violet-ish tint, making him a sickly color. 

Keith kicked and screamed, snapping at every guard that pulled him back. His fingers rested on the triggers of his web shooters that were still wrapped around his wrists, threatening to plaster a security guard against the wall. A pair of strong arms wrapped around Keith’s torso, trapping his arms against his side. Allura pulled Keith out into the hallway, her gripped shifted into a tight hug. Keith’s body shook against her own, unnoticed tears forming in his eyes. Not hiro. Not him too. 

It was not known how long they sat in the hallway. Keith sat with his face buried in the the sleeve of Lance’s jacket, finally going quiet. Allura sat next to him on the floor, allowing him to lean against her. She spoke softly about random topics, straying away from what plagued everyone’s minds. 

“Some of the offices aren’t complete, but our department has been repaired. Hopefully I can start working next week and our samples haven’t been ruined.” Allura pulled at the hem of her shirt, tugging on loose threads, “I know you probably aren’t ready to come back, but when you are, I spoke with my father and he and I agreed that the work you’ve done for us has been more than enough proof that you are a valued worker, and I hope you’ll accept the position of being my lab partner.” She paused and bit her lip gently. “And I know you only have two years of high school left and that you’re probably going straight to college, but I want you to know that no matter where you are or when you’ll come back, you’ll always have a place in the Altean family and—”

Allura was quieted by a sudden hug from Keith. 

“Thank you…”

She slowly hugged back, a small smile gracing her lips, “You’re welcome, Keith.”

“Cool, see you in a bit.” Pidge paced into the hallway, pulling her phone from her ear. She glanced down at the two of them, eyebrow raised in confusion.

“Did I miss something?”

Allura laughed and shook her head, “So?”

Pidge pocketed her phone, “Well, I called my mom and explained the situation. As soon as I said Keith, she said she was already preparing the guest room. She’ll be here to picks us up in a few. Guess you’re going to be a Gunderson for a while, Keith!”

* * *

He knew this was going to happen. He didn’t want to admit it, but it was inevitable. Keith couldn’t live by himself forever. Coran could only offer him enough sandwiches before he went mad. 

When he stepped into the Gunderson household (apartment-hold?), he felt a wave of unfamiliarity wash over him. He’s walked through that door a hundred times, but at the moment, he felt like a stranger, like he didn’t belong.

He walked robotically to the guest room, which was directly across from Pidge’s room. Usually when he stayed the night, he and Pidge would just share a room, making it easier for the two of them to have late-night chats and share conspiracy theories. Walking into the guest room felt foreign to him. 

It was fairly small, by far the smallest bedroom in the apartment. The walls were painted off white, scratched and scuffed from the boxes that were moved in and out of it. It was quite obvious that the room had been used for storage before Keith’s arrival. He felt like another useless object that was being thrown into the room to be forgotten about. 

He threw his bags onto the bed, a small twin size with a blanket with various blue stripes decorating it. The room also held a wooden desk, streaks of dust covering the top from where Pidge’s mother had quickly tried to wipe it down. On the desk were a few framed photos, all of Pidge’s family. Keith recognized the quirky grin of Matt, Pidge’s brother. His arm was around Pidge and their mother in every photo, smiling widely. With careful examination of the desk, Keith found old papers and notes within its drawers, and quickly drew together that this was Matt’s room for when he came to visit. The dust and storage boxes told him that he hasn’t visited in awhile. 

Keith sat down on the bed, its mattress squeaking under his weight. He didn’t unpack his bags, deciding that he wasn’t going to be there for long. Shiro is going to get better, their lives will be back to normal soon enough. 

He sat in silence for a few minutes but a knock came from his door. Pidge poked her head into the room, lips pursed as she made eye contact with Keith. 

“Oh, good. You’re settled."

She kicked the door open, in her hands a tray with two mugs sitting on it. 

“I know you’re probably not in the mood, but my mom doesn’t take no for an answer. Hot chocolate?”

Pidge balanced the tray on one hand as she pushed Keith’s things on the floor. She sat next to him on the bed and offered him a cup, which he took graciously. The two of them sipped on the beverage thoughtfully, the atmosphere around them relaxing. 

Pidge nudged her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “You going out tonight?”

Keith stared at the wall in front of them, “I have to. If I don’t find this Sendak guy, who knows what will happen to Shiro.”

“Mhm.” Pidge took another sip from her mug, “What about Lance? Are you going to get him to help?”

“It’s not his fight.”

“Keith, I honestly don’t think there is a fight here to begin with.”She placed her mug on the bedside table and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Even if there is one, you can’t do it alone.”

Keith frowned, knowing that she was right. His silence was all that Pidge needed to know that she had got to him. Pidge stood up and took the empty cup out of his hands. 

“Mom’s making spaghetti tonight for dinner, I hope you like Italian.”

She tucked the tray under her arm and carried the mugs towards the door. Before she closed the door, Keith stopped her in her tracks.

“Thanks, Pidge.”

She smiled, “No prob, Spider-Man.”

 

That night, Keith didn’t know where to go. He needed to find Lance, but the guy was so unpredictable. Keith swung from building to building, stopping at the water tower more than a few times, hoping that he would be there, waiting.

Keith ended up on top of the building across from Altea. The once towering skyscraper seemed frozen in time, cranes posed motionless over the building from the days work. He wasn’t used to all the lights being out. It was unsettling. 

“Fancy seeing you here, Spidey.”

Lance sat himself next to Keith, pulling off his mask. His hair stuck up in different directions, his bangs plastered to his face with sweat. He ruffled his fingers through his hair, making his hair look even more ridiculous. 

“God, it feels good out here. It really does get hot under the mask, don’t you think?” Lance faced Keith and smiled, a real smile. Not one of the teasing smiles Keith was used to seeing.

Keith nodded, but didn’t respond. Lance raised an eyebrow.

“What? You’re going to leave me hanging? Take it off! Take it off!”

Keith had to hold back a giggle. This was ridiculous, who would have thought he would be enjoying the fresh air with Lance McClain, of all people?

“Oh, my god.”

Keith was taken back by hands roughly taking his face. He gasped, heat rising to his cheeks. Lance’s fingers hooked under his mask and began to pull it up.

“Do I have to do everything for you? You’ve got to be burning up under there.”

He pulled Keith’s mask over his mouth, allowing the cool air to hit his face. Lance paused, his hands cupping Keith’s cheeks. They stared into each other’s eyes, Lance’s eyes blatantly flickering over Keith’s lips. 

To Keith’s surprise, he was the first to move. He leaned towards Lance, their lips barely brushing before he stopped. In the corner of his eye, he saw a purple hue glowing from beneath Altea’s building. The light flickered and glowed, signifying activity. Keith pulled his face away from Lance’s hands and pulled down his mask, ignoring the disappointed look on Lance’s face. He got back to his feet and jumped over the side of the building, sliding down the face of it. 

Keith ran towards Altea’s entrance, ignoring the  _ thud _ of Lance’s feet landing behind him. Together, they entered the building and Keith made his way to the stairwell towards the basement. 

The two of them were silent, unsure what they were going to see. They poked their heads out from the corner, spying on whoever was causing the mysterious violet light. 

From between the computer stacks, the light glowed the strongest. Keith went to pull the stack back, but Lance grabbed onto his wrist, shaking his head no. Keith pulled his arm back and continued making an opening big enough that he could look into. 

Inside, a large man was tending to the spiders. His skin was hued purple, but Keith couldn’t tell if it was from the light or not. He was carefully pulling the bioluminescent spiders from their webs, placing them into a glass container. Lance rested his head on top of Keith’s, eyes wide under the mask that he had put back on. 

“Holy shit.”

Keith’s hand slapped Lance’s mouth before he could cover it. Four hands covered Lance’s mouth as they both stared at each other with wide eyes. Keith glanced back into the secret room, the man having not been disturbed by Lance’s exclamation. 

He let out a sigh of relief, slowly removing his hands from Lance’s mouth. Lance rubbed his jaw and frowned, finding Keith’s aggression to be a little unnecessary. 

Quietly, they scurried back up the stairs and out of the building, both going their separate ways without another word. 

**Author's Note:**

> (all typos made should be forgiven because i don't edit at all and that's why my essays always suck)


End file.
